Ad-hocism in cricket over the decades

Pakistan cricket has the unique distinction in the world on two
counts. First, the Pakistan's heads of state have been involved in the
affairs of its management either as President or patrons. This system
goes as far back as Mohammed Ali Bogra, Prime Minister of Pakistan who
was President of BCCP from 1954 to 1956. President Iskandar Mirza and
FM Ayub Khan followed him till 1963 when first Ad hoc Committee
adopted formal constitution in 1963. Since then presidents of Pakistan
have remained "Patrons" of cricket supreme body. Secondly, the
Pakistan cricket management has gone through Ad hoc arrangement four
times in its history. No other major cricket playing country can match
this record.

Presently, the Pakistan cricket is experiencing the fourth Ad hoc
committee rule since 17th July this year. The purpose of appointing an
ad hoc committee, by authorities concerned, to replace an elected
body, is an extreme step and indicates something drastically wrong
with the dissolved body. Normally, such committees are given specific
tasks and a time frame to work its way through clearing the mess. This
time neither is made clear in the order. This is the first time that
the major regional cricket associations have reacted in a manner as
never before and a legal battle between various cricket associations
and the Ad hoc committee is going on in the courts at Lahore, Karachi
and Hyderabad.

Before discussing the present committees' performance, it is pertinent
to review, briefly, what Ad hoc committee imposed earlier had done for
Pakistan's cricket. The first Ad hoc committee was appointed in
September, 1960 with Justice A.R. Cornelius as its chairman. It
remained in charge of cricket affairs till May 1963. During its tenure
Justice Cornelius' committee gave the formal constitution for the
Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan known as BCCP. This
constitution created a cricket body based on four provincial cricket
associations and major government departments whose representatives
formed the executive council. This constitution remained functional
till 1978. The constitution drafted by Justice Cornelius proved
workable and formidable and saw two long tenures of Mr S. Fida Hussain
and Mr A.H. Kardar. The unfortunate revolt of the players against Mr
A.H. Kardar in 1978 brought down not only Mr Kardar but also the
cricket body.

The second Ad hoc committee replaced the BCCP Council and the general
body in June 1978 with Lt Gen (Retd) K.M. Azhar as its chairman. It
remained functional till Feb, 1980. This committee changed the Justice
Cornelius constitution by eliminating provincial associations and
allowing divisional and city cricket association to become members of
the council. The two cricket centres, Lahore and Karachi thus became
major power holders of general body and council seats. In fact the
clause that allowed city associations to have one member each for
every 65 clubs gave rise to enrolment of bogus clubs to get more seats
in general body. The committee also carried out for the first time
scrutiny of clubs all over the country in 1979 which, to say the
least, was very liberal. The constitution framed by this committee
remained controversial but lasted till 1994 when the third Ad hoc
committee took over.

The third Ad hoc committee with Mr Javed Burki as its chairman, took
over BCCP affairs in Jan, 1994. This committee gave yet another
revised constitution changing its character on corporate lines and
giving it a new name Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). It introduced a
chairman and paid CEO with vast powers like the president of previous
boards. It also gave power to 'Patron' to appoint chairman, CEO and
treasurer all at his discretion. General body and council were
retained as before. This committee also took a major decision of fresh
scrutiny of all clubs affiliated to various associations. A retired
major general was appointed to conduct the scrutiny which was being
done after 1979. Zonal sub-committees were formed to perform an
un-biased scrutiny. This author was the president of scrutiny
committee for Sindh and Karachi clubs. The Ad hoc committee was
supposed to have fresh elections based on this report to form general
body and council. Unfortunately, this never happened for reasons best
known to PCB authorities. The first major "match fixing" and "betting"
upheaval came to light during Pakistan's' dismal tour to South Africa
and Zimbabwe under the captainship of Salim Malik.

The present committee has taken over the cricket management on 17th
July, this year. The main cause of its appointment as published in the
press was gross mismanagement by previous setup. But for this, was an
Ad hoc committee needed? Whether replacing the previous chairman and
appointment of new CEO (which was already due) would have achieved the
purpose without disturbing the whole structure? Anyway, one has to
find the answer in the intentions and various actions taken by this
committee.

In conclusion one can say that Ad hocism in any organisation, let
alone Pakistan cricket is neither desirable nor solution to all
problems and ills. There has to be sincere effort to replace this
system with permanent constitutional setup. For this some bold steps
have to be taken, keeping Pakistan cricket's interest supreme. The
power and freedom which the present Ad hoc committee enjoys can be
utilised towards imparting constitutional stability to Pakistan
cricket management through justice, fairplay and accountability.

The writer of this article is chairman election/scrutiny committee of
the Board.